The Elements of Concordia - The Roleplay

In the royal garden, Princess Ambiance paced back and forth. The earth pony grew more and more irritated with each passing minute. Her gown itched, and she found that her braids were too tight, which gave her a slight headache. The sound of the Summer Sun Cebration band's practicing reverberated through the garden. "When is she going to get here?" she thought aloud. "I can't wait forever..."

Just then, as if on cue, a butter yellow pegasus flew over the castle walls and landed a short distance from her majesty. "Hey, Ambie."

The princess was aghast. "'Hey Ambie?' Equestria, neigh, the entire world hangs in the balance, and all you have for me is 'Hey Ambie?!'" Ambiance stamped the ground with her front hooves, a most un-princessly maneuver.

The pegasus, Silent Night, took it in stride. "It's okay. I got the messages around to all of the kingdoms, just like you asked."

Ambiance's expression picked up slightly. "And? Did we get any responses?"

Silent Night shifted her glance nervously. "Well...we got a few. All ponies."

The princess sighed. "I was hoping we'd get a few representatives from the other kingdoms on our side, but I'll take what I can get. Where are they?"

The pegasus replied, "I tracked them all to the assigned meeting place: The Oaken Stable Inn in Ponyville. Are you going to go there now, or do you want me to scout them for a bit?" She cast a sly smile at the princess. Scouting was one of her favorite pastimes.

Ambiance shook her head. "I can't get out of here. Father wants me to practice my curtsying." Silent Night grimaced as Ambiance jokingly asked, "Would you like to join me, fair maiden?"

The pegasus drew back. "Ew. Girly-girl stuff. Count me out."

The princess chuckled. "Very well. I want you to go to Ponyville and get them started." Ambiance removed her tiara and gave it to Silent Night. "Take this. It is the Element of Wonder. Keep it safe. It might help you to convince the other kingdoms of the sincerity of my intentions."

Silent Night took the tiara with her wing and gingerly placed it in her saddlebag. Then she bowed and said, "I won't fail you, Your Majesty." With that, she quickly flew away toward Ponyville.
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Ponyville is your average backwoods town where nothing ever happens. The Oaken Stable Inn isn't the busiest place, but it does enough business to stay afloat. At the moment, there are about seven ponies sitting at the different tables, while Mr. Crosier tends the bar. A white unicorn with a long, purple mane is playing a soft tune on a lute. The whole place exudes an air of solitude and harmony.

Silent Night drifted in and took a place near the bard, watching for any new arrivals.

 

Silent Night shifted a bit when the first new arrival sat down next to her. She was about to say something about how she herself couldn't hack the Flying Academy when the title of the pegasis' book caught her eye. You've got to be kidding me. She rolled her eyes as if to say, "Great, one of those loons," but kept her opinions to herself.

As she watched the others coming in, she thought about what kind of motley crew the Princess had on her hooves. She glanced down into her saddlebag at the Element of Wonder, and she knew what she had to do.

She nudged the unicorn with her hoof. "Psst. Sing Song. They're the ones." She thought for a moment before adding, "Play something inspirational."

Sing Song nodded, and changed her tune to one that was a bit louder, and incidentally, more inspirational.

Happy with Sing Song's choice of music, the treasure hunter pegasus stood up and addressed the three that had just come in.

"Good afternoon all of you. I'm Silent Night, an agent in her Majesty's service. I have with me one of the Elements of Concordia, the Element of Wonder, to be exact."

This statement drew the attention of a few of the ponies sitting toward the back.

Silent Night, seemingly unaware, continued. "I took the Element and brought it here...specifically to see if anypony wanted to...buy it. I'm askin' 20,000 Zealots."

Sing Song's lute suddenly stopped, sounding like a record needle scratch, and she stared incredulously at the thief.

Silent Night grinned broadly. "So...any takers?"

The four ponies in the back didn't make any moves, but it seemed obvious that they were interested.

 

Silent Night glanced at Arrow, then cast a confused glance toward Bubble. "You're kidding, right? This is the Element of Wonder.. Only one of the single most important and powerful magical artifacts in all of Equestria! Why, 20,000 Zealots is a steal!"

Sing Song leaned in toward the pegasus. "Okay, This needs to stop..."

Silent Night shooed her away with a flick of her hoof. "Oh, c'mon. Chill out, Sing Song."

Sing Song, nudged Silent Night back, and pointed toward the four ponies in he back, who were standing up and starting to make their way toward the bar, eyes locked on the Element.

Silent Night grinned. "Ah, I see we have some takers. What's your offer?"

The lead pony, a dark blue unicorn, snarled as his horn lot with dark blue energy. "We'll let you live." Another pony in the group cried out, "For the Dread Queen!" and the group charged toward Silent Night.

 

The Nightmare Moon cultists stopped for a moment. Perhaps they hadn't anticipated any form of resistance...

Silent Night just grinned smugly, dangling the Element of Wonder on one hoof. "Looks like we're at an impasse, fellas."

Sing Song stomped her hoof an the ground. "Silent Night! Seriously, stop it! You're scaring me!"

Silent Night sighed, placing the Elemen back into her satchel. "Alright, guys. Stand down."

The Nightmare Cultists relaxed, some of them smiling at Silent Night and the others. The lead "cultist" grimaced. "The Princess will hear of this."

Silent Night smiled. "Yeah, I know. She already knew what I was going to do; she's cool with it."

"We'll see about that..." The leader turned to his compatriots and called them to attention. "Ten hut! Alright, troops. We're heading back to the castle." With that, the guards left the inn.

Silent Night stuck her tongue out to them as they left, then turned to the others. "Good ol' Battle Cry there and me have a bit of history."

Sing Song chimed in, "He arrested you."

Silent Night rolled her eyes. "Geez... Anyways, guys and gals, what you witnessed there was a quick and dirty test of Devotion." She grinned broadly. "You all passed."

She walked to the middle of the group and said, "Alright. Let's get down to business: You all answered the Princess' call, but you probably don't know what you'll be doing yet. Any guesses?"

 

Silent Night thrust a hoof at Arrow. "Great! A fresh, young mind, eager to learn! You all could learn a lesson from this one!"

Then, upon hearing Gold's answer, she leaned back and rolled her eyes. "O-ho-kay...? I'm keepin my eye on you."

Sing Song answered Bubble. "I wasn't planning on coming along, but I can if ya want. I could dazzle you all with my songs of inspiration!"

Silent Night smiled. "Yeah, that'd be cool. Actually, Gold Feather here is the closest. Ya see, Princess Ambiance wants us to gather the Elements of Concordia so we can rebanish Nightmare Moon, or, uh, whatever it is we can actually do with these things." She hopped on a table and flapped her wings. "The fist place we're going is the Diamond Dog Kingdom to recover the Element of Compassion. I know, Diamond Dogs and Compassion don't mix, but I didn't hand of the Elements in the first place, so...meh."